January 5 – Cameroon football has again been rocked by an age fraud scandal with 21 out of 30 Under-17 national team players disqualified after failing MRI tests ordered by the country’s FA (Fecafoot) chief Samuel Eto’o.
January 5 – Supportive messages have poured in, including from FIFA president Gianni Infantino, after French international Samuel Umtiti was racially abused by Lazio fans who have once again tarnished the sport in Italy.
January 5 – Danielle Reyna, the mother of US midfielder Giovanni Reyna, has come forward saying she told U.S. Soccer of the domestic violence incident involving US coach Gregg Berhalter in 1991.
January 5 – Premier League Manchester City, whose owners City Football Group (CFG) have ambitions to expand in India, has unveiled a new regional partnership with Indian digital services company Jio Platforms.
January 5 – Corsican businessman Pierre-Marie Geronimi (pictured), former president of SC Bastia, has been charged with fraud, bankruptcy and misuse of corporate assets as part of a judicial investigation into possible financial embezzlement before the club’s 2017 liquidation.
January 5 – Online bookmaker EstrelaBet, who before Christmas sealed a deal with the Brazilian federation (CBF) for sponsorship of all its futsal clubs, has now moved into mainstream Brazilian football becoming the main sponsor of América Futebol Clube.
January 5 – Just four months after his dismissal by Bournemouth, Scott Parker has succeeded Carl Hoefkens as head coach of Belgian champions Club Brugge.
January 5 – In a surprise appointment, Nigel de Jong will become the new director of football at the Dutch FA (KNVB), succeeding Jan Hoogsma.
January 5 – West Ham United joint-chairman and co-owner David Gold has died at the age of 86 on Wednesday following a short illness, the English Premier League club said.
By Samindra Kunti in Santos, Brazil
January 4 – On Tuesday Santos and Brazil bode farewell to Pelé, the nation’s greatest icon. Almost a quarter of a million mourners and supporters, including newly sworn-in president Luiz Inacio da Silva, filed past Pele’s coffin in a serene funeral procession before a private internment.
January 4 – Africa’s Cape Verde has become the first FIFA member nation to heed president Gianni Infantino’s call to rename a stadium in every country in the world after Pele.
January 4 – Iranian authorities have accused the United Kingdom of plotting for the Iran team to defect on the pitch during the World Cup in Qatar.
January 4 – Premier League Southampton have entered the sports tech development scene with a challenge to developers and companies to come up with the next big idea in either the football development or fan engagement space.
With the Qatar 2022 World Cup gone, with Pelé having succumbed to colon cancer (“every country should now have a Pelé stadium”, GI Joe said), with Argentina having won the Cup, with (North) African football having put its foot down, with Asian football proving what Salman’s predecessor said was right when he claimed that the future was Asia…
January 4 – Cristiano Ronaldo says his “work is done” in Europe at the age of 37 and that he is relishing a new challenge on and off the pitch after being unveiled by leading Saudi club Al Nassr.